Records and celebrates the presence and achievements of queer sexuality throughout human culture and history, and even in the animal knigdom

Thursday, 27 December 2012

Generation divide on gay marriage (New Zealand)

Older people want marriage to remain solely between a man and a woman, while those aged under 40 support gay marriage, a survey has found.

Sixty per cent of those older than 65 were against same-sex marriage while 70 per cent of those under 40 were happy for gay people to tie the knot, according to a New Zealand Herald-Digipoll survey of 500, published on Thursday.

Overall, nearly 60 per cent of respondents backed changing the law to allow same sex marriage, while 38 per cent were against.

Labour MP Louisa Wall, who has put forward the bill to legalise gay marriage, says the generational divide on the issue could be because older people had not seen gay couples in a relationship when they were growing up.

"If [older New Zealanders] have grandchildren who are gay, or exploring expressions [of sexuality] you'll want to have the opportunity to celebrate with them," she told the paper.

"For your grandchildren to have the option to marry will be a wonderful thing."